HELD SRINAGAR: Three militants and a police officer were killed on Saturday
in held Kashmir while police seized a cache of powerful explosives that could
have been used to blow up a vital tunnel, officials said. Abdul Rashid, a police
officer, was shot dead while on a routine patrol in Srinagar, a police spokesman
said. A little known group, calling itself the al-Madina regiment, claimed responsibility
for the killing in a statement to the local media. Police said Indian troops
shot dead two militants in Rekipora village and killed another militant in the
Kupwara district. The forces also raided a suspected militant hideout at Nowgam,
six kilometres from the Jawaharlal Tunnel that links the held Valley to the
Jammu region and India proper, police said. The troops and police recovered
55 kilograms of the powerful plastic explosive C4, said a police spokesman in
held Jammu.